There has been some creativity, of late, in the matter of covering the Brockville Railway Tunnel’s deficit.

I refer to the recent Tunnel of Terror event, a Halloween-themed “Fright Nights” kind of spook show that raised $18,500 toward the deficit.

(I can neither confirm nor deny that one of the creepy characters hamming it up inside the tunnel for the popular tour was none other than outgoing Coun. David LeSueur, until recently the main proponent of the tunnel project.)

But earlier this week, another idea came up that is a different kind of creative.

Imagine contributing, in some minuscule way, to the tunnel shortfall every time you fill up your gas tank.

Maybe one needs to be a municipal affairs nerd like myself for one’s eyes to pop out at such a revelation, but on Tuesday council learned that the federal gas tax could be used to pay for the tunnel deficit.

Still, don’t expect a Tanks for the Tunnel campaign any time soon.

The tunnel restoration project’s unexpected deficit of nearly $2.1 million has been one of the most consequential controversies of 2018, spawning a forensic audit and (possibly) resulting in LeSueur’s exit from city politics.

City council has since voted to cover the tunnel deficit in a new debenture issue totalling $2,749,901, which includes other capital work.

On Tuesday, city corporate services director David Dick told councillors the money Brockville receives, annually, from the federal gas tax could be spent on paying off the tunnel project’s deficit.

Again, if you’re a municipal nerd, the idea of a federal subsidy being used to pay off debt rather than roads, bridges and rinks, sounds more than a little off.

But Dick on Thursday confirmed that tourism infrastructure is on the list of varied items that can legitimately be covered by federal gas tax dollars.

“We actually called them specifically on that one.”

Brockville expects to receive nearly $1.3 million in gas tax money from the feds in 2019.

Sure, that would cover more than half the tunnel deficit in one shot. But it’s a bit more complicated than that.

The city usually spreads the gas tax revenue among infrastructure projects such as roads, and items in the water and wastewater budget, said Dick.

Dick’s suggestion is a lot more modest. He expects there will be some funds left over at the end of the year from the federal transfer, and part of that money could be diverted, if council so decides, to paying off the tunnel deficit debenture.

That debenture payment will amount to $74,000 in 2019, then go up to $148,000 a year in future years.

Outgoing Mayor David Henderson said Thursday he hasn’t given the matter much thought since Tuesday. But he sounded decidedly skeptical.

Whether the tunnel debt is covered by the gas tax or the tax levy, “it comes from the general pot, one way or the other,” said Henderson.

The city pays all its debentures in one lump sum, and at some point breaking that amount up to cover a portion of it with gas tax revenues seems like a pointless accounting exercise, he added.

You can look at it this way: If, at the end of the year, you’ve got an extra $150,000 kicking around in gas tax money, you can use it to pay off the tunnel debenture for the year, then take that debenture savings and use it to reduce the tax levy.

Or, if you want to save time, you can just take the gas tax surplus and use it to reduce the tax levy.

The difference, really, would be one of optics: Using federal tax dollars to retire the tunnel debt, rather than Brockville tax dollars.

But at that point, you’re splitting hairs.

Still, for people who have a thing about municipal politics, this whole thought experiment has been enriching nonetheless.

It has revealed that the tax revenue the city gets from the overpriced pumps can be used for more things than initially believed. And that could lead to other good news down the road.

City hall reporter Ronald Zajac can be reached at Rzajac@postmedia. com.